Don’t Wait, Pick Up Those Weights! An Introduction to Strength Training - Women Campus

Calling all cardio addicts! Calling all cardio addicts! It's a new decade, which means it's time for a NEW workout routine:

strength training.

You may be hesitant to leave your beloved elliptical, or cherished treadmill for the weight room, but that is simply an attitude that is so last decade. Strength training has countless benefits that supplement your cardio routine. It helps prevent injury, can help strengthen your bones, keeps you motivated, and has clear, tangible results that are realized quickly with commitment. Lifting weights helps build muscle, and muscles burns more calories while resting than does fat. In fact, University of Michigan Health System concludes "one pound of muscle burns 30-50 calories a day just to maintain itself" while "one pound of fat only burns 3 calories per day." But of course, one of the other benefits of strength training is how it makes you look! Hello toned abs, cut arms, and strong legs. Bikini season is only five months away!!!! (Maybe that's a little over-excited, but when it's snowing outside, thinking of sunny beaches is motivation enough for me!)

To get those muscles burning, below is a three-week routine to get you started on strength training! If you are a member of a gym that offers a personal training session for free, take advantage of that first to learn how to use all machines correctly. If you do not have this option, the key is to start slow and low. Read all instructions on machines before beginning as incorrect form can lead to injury. Keep weight and repetitions – or "reps" – low to begin to help ensure correct form and completion of the set. Not all strength training involves weights and weight machines—body weight exercises can be just as helpful for beginners. Using proper form is important to prevent injury or strain. If you start to lose your form and muscle control, you are lifting too much weight, or have completed the maximum number of reps. Make sure you are not holding your breath when you are lifting, but inhaling as you lift the weight and exhaling as you bring the weight back to the starting position. It is more helpful to have good form and lower weight than bad form and heavier weight. Pounding out cardio sessions should be a daily routine, but strength training should not. Give your body at least a day to recover between strength sessions to give your muscles a chance to rebuild. Here is a routine to get you started 2 times a week. You don't necessarily have to do this on Monday and Wednesday, but just make sure you have least a day between your strength workouts. This routine should take you about 45 minutes. The order in which these are done: do all of Set 1 2x/3x thru, and then all of Set 2. Warm up on a cardio machine for 5-10 minutes before you begin.

Week 1: 2x Thru

Monday

Set 1

• Bicep Curls: using dumbbells, begin with your arms extended at your sides, palms up. While keeping your arms close to your body and your back straight: bend at the elbows raising the dumbbells to shoulder level and back down. 5 reps x 5lbs.
• Step Ups: Using a step or bench, start by facing the step/bench with both feet on the ground. Start with your right foot, step up onto the step/bench and then follow with your left, ending with both feet on the step/bench. Then, leading with your right foot again, step down and follow with your left. Arms should mimic movement of running or walking up the stairs. This should be a fast, intense movement. (2nd set should lead with your left leg instead of right). 15x
• Sit-Ups with Weight: This is a basic sit-up. Lie on your back with both feet on the ground, knees bent. Sit-up with a 5-10lbs.-weight disc on your chest, arms crossed over it. 10x

Set 2

• Dumbbell Chest Press: Lie on your back on a bench. This exercise is like a bench press, but uses dumbbells instead. Using dumbbells, begin with your arms bent at the elbows held at a 90-degree angle. Slowly extend your arms to straight pressing the dumbbells up and away from your body. Pause at the top, and slowly bring the weights back down. 8x10lbs
• Body Weight Squats: Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, toes facing forward. Bend at the knees to a squat position to 90-degrees. Slowly stand back up. * If this is too easy, hold dumbbells with elbows bent at shoulder level. 15x

• Plank Hold: Similar to a push-up position, but with your elbows bent and forearms on the floor. Hold this position for the time instructed, and make sure your back is level (not dipping down, or angled). 25sec. 

Wednesday

Set 1

• Calf Raises: Put a weight disc on the ground (a larger one, 25-35lbs). Place toes on edge of disc. Slowly push up onto toes, engaging calf muscles, and come back down placing heels on the ground. 10x
• Shoulder Burn: Hold arms straight out to the sides at shoulder level. 30sec.
• Push-Ups: Make sure your back is level. 6x (or 8x on knees)

Set 2

• Curl To Press: Use dumbbells to do a Bicep Curl (see Monday, Set 1), but once you curl to shoulder level, press weights above your head until arms are straight (a shoulder press). Bend at elbows to bring weights back to shoulder level, and then back down to sides. 5x 5lbs. 
• Walking Lunges: Find the longest, open space in your gym (sometimes this means going outside for this exercise). Stand with both feet together, facing forward. Take a large step forward with your right leg, bend at the knee without letting your left knee touch the ground. Pause. Bring your left foot to your right foot. Repeat leading with left foot now. 5x Each Leg (10 steps total)
• Ball Sit-Ups: Use a physioball (one of those giant exercise balls) Lie, facing upwards, with your back and shoulders on the ball. Knees bent with feet on the floor. Do a normal sit-up. 10x

Week 2: 3x Thru, Add Reps

Monday

Set 1

• Bicep Curls: 8 reps x 5 lbs.
• Step Ups: 20x
• Sit-Ups with Weight: 15x

Set 2

• Dumbbell Chest Press: 10x10lbs
• Body Weight Squats: 18x
• Plank Hold: 30sec.

Wednesday

Set 1

• Calf Raises: 12x
• Shoulder Burn: 45sec.
• Push-Ups: 8x (or 10x on knees)

Set 2

• Curl To Press: 8x 5lbs.
• Walking Lunges: 8x Each Leg (16 steps total)
• Ball Sit-Ups: 12x

Week 3: 2x Thru, Add Weight

Monday

Set 1

• Bicep Curls: 5 reps x 8lbs
• Step Ups: 25x
• Sit-Ups with Weight: 20x

Set 2

• Dumbbell Chest Press: 8x12lbs
• Body Weight Squats: 20x
• Plank Hold: 45sec.

Wednesday

Set 1

• Calf Raises: 10x 10lbs. weight in arms.
• Shoulder Burn: 1min.
• Push-Ups: 10x (or 12x on knees)

Set 2

• Curl To Press: 5x 8lbs..
• Walking Lunges: 10x Each Leg (20 steps total)
• Ball Sit-Ups: 15x

Some general tips:

• Go down in weight if you cannot complete the set
• It is important that you increase the weight as you progress. Your body does not gain any fitness or strength when you keep the weight the same.
• Change the routine above to fit the equipment that you have in your gym. Not all gyms have the same equipment, so improvise to make it work.
• Print this chart out, and write in what you complete/do each time to help keep track of your progress.

Sources: Department of Kinesiology – Georgia State University "Strength Training Main Page" March 13, 1998. http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwfit/strength.html UMHS M-Fit Health Promotion Division "Beginning Strength Training" August, 2008. http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/aha/umfit07.htm Wauhner, Paige. "Weight Training 101: Getting Started" June 19, 2009. http://exercise.about.com/cs/exerciseworkouts/a/weight101.htm